The best Spain was not enough

Spain had everything against it and fell with honors. A team which had suffered in its three duels in the group stage against the one which had more calmly overcome this first leg of the European Championship, England. An insatiable team that came to the game in Brighton with the record for goals (14) and not a single against. In addition to that, playing at home, pushed by their fans, but we already know that there are those who grow up in the face of adversity.

La Roja grew so much that they deserved to go to the semi-finals of the continental tournament after signing a match in which they dominated one of the big favorites, who until then had subdued their rivals with an iron fist . He wasn’t intimidated by the deafening atmosphere at the Community Stadium, where a few days ago the hosts crushed Norway with the tournament’s biggest victory (8-0). The hosts repeated the same eleven from their previous three games. Jorge Vilda, for his part, decided to bench former Athletic striker Lucía García after starting the group stage, returning the starting role to Esther. An eleven in which Tere Abelleira surprised, recruited due to the loss of Salma Paralluelo, and also the presence of the two protagonists of the solitaire against Denmark, Olga Carmona and Marta Cardona. An approach which undoubtedly surprised England, and which made Spain more offensive in the tournament.

In the third minute, Cardona had already disrupted the goal defended by Earps. It was then Mariona who tried her luck, with a shot from the edge of the area. La Roja were comfortable playing, without complexes, against a British team which, with Sarina Wiegman already in charge from the bench, after beating the coronavirus, was struggling to find its attackers. They had just five minutes of dominance in the first half, with a white goal disallowed for offside in the 37th minute.

After the break, Vilda brought Athenea del Castillo down the right lane to add more bite. And boy did he. Eight minutes later, he netted a cross that Esther made it 0-1, the first goal England received in their European Championship.

controversial tie

The ‘Lionesses’ tried to put on some extra speed when they saw themselves behind on the scoreboard, hovering around Sandra Paños’ area, but Spain wanted more. The Cantabrian Athenaeum took a spot-kick cross that made the local parish nervous again, who saw how theirs was rising more and more in search of a draw. La Roja, more used to seeing themselves in this situation in this tournament, was able to endure, until the equality at minute 83, in an isolated game, with a shot from Toone, in which Irene Paredes was called for a mistake.

Community Stadium woke up from its lethargy in an attempt to avoid overtime, but the game was decided there. Stanway took a shoe in 96 against which the Rags under the sticks could not do anything, giving England the lead for the first time. La Roja was entrusted to Amaiur Sarriegi, second top national scorer in the Spanish championship, with the number 14, the one that was going to wear Alexia Putellas, whom she replaced at the last minute on the list. She came off in the 100th minute, but neither she nor the rest of her teammates were able to force penalties.